The frequent use of mobile phones and the popular searches about “near me” on Google have compelled businesses to optimize their online presence for local searches. According to analytics, 46% of Google searches are about regional companies, while 93% are about top local businesses.
Therefore, optimization of your local business up to the next level to stand among the top 3 on Google’s first page is the main game. In this technological era, everyone knows digital marketing tactics and uses them for their businesses, standing out as a challenger.
This blog will discuss the latest local SEO strategies for multi-location businesses to enhance their visibility.
Why is Local SEO Important for Franchises?
Local SEO consists of strategies and techniques to enhance a business’s online presence in a specific geographical region. It is beneficial for small startups to reach their targeted audience. Moreover, companies with multiple locations can also find potential customers in all targeted areas by applying local SEO.
Service provider businesses such as restaurants, hospitals, medical pharmacies, schools, colleges, retail stores, cafes, and franchise businesses must apply local SEO strategies to boost sales. The main benefits of using local SEO strategies are:
1. Enhance Online Presence in Specified Areas
Local SEO services enhance your online presence. If you follow all the rules for local SEO, Google will rank your business on the first page when someone searches for the product you sell in that specific area.
2. Connect With The Potential Customer
Local SEO helps local businesses and franchises target their potential customers in a specified location. Suppose you have many franchises for your business in various states, cities, or even countries and manage local SEO for each location. In that case, you can appear in the near me searches and connect with potential customers.
3. Stay Ahead of Competitors
This is the most competitive edge of Local SEO. It helps you stand out in the market of the targeted area, drive more audience from that location, enhance user experience, boost your sales in the market, and ultimately keep you ahead of all the market competitors.
Local SEO Strategies for Multi-Location Businesses
You can achieve the above-mentioned benefits only when you strictly apply all the strategies of local SEO. However, the primary question arising here is, what methods can help a multi-location business rank higher?
Let’s discuss these strategies below.
1. One Website for all Franchises
Which is the most suitable option?
One website with all locations or separate websites for each location? One website structure with all targeted locations is best because separate websites will confuse Google bots and your audience.
The right trick is to manage one website with landing pages for all targeted locations. Structure the website’s home page so that when the users land on the website, they get information about all your operating locations on the home page.
2. Build Clear URL of the Locations
Once you have created the website with all locations, the next step is to maintain a clear URL for each area so that Google crawlers can get it quickly. All location pages can be set up as subdomains. For example, if your main website is www.mainproduct.com, this means your location page must be www.city-mainproduct.com.
3. Mobile Friendly Websites
Most of the local searches are done verbally from mobiles. So, you must ensure to make mobile-friendly websites and optimize them for voice queries. Optimization of conversational, engaging, and user-friendly content helps you to rank in the results of near me verbal search.
4. On-Page SEO for Each Location
After setting web pages for all the locations, it’s time for on-page optimization for each page. Check the meta-tags, titles, and H1 for all location pages and make sure that the targeted area, city, or state name is present in all categories.
5. Mention the NAP
Mention the name, address, and phone number on each location’s page. Never mention the main office address and phone number on the location page. Moreover, the NAP should be in the same format on all location pages.
6. Manage Citations
Create local citations with local and niche-specific directories. A few well-known directories are Google My Business, Yelp, Bing Places, Yellow Pages, and TripAdvisors etc. Use local SEO tools to identify directories related to your niche and submit all relevant information, such as name, logo, website, phone number, social media platforms, and product images, for approval. One of the most effective tips here is to use high-quality images and videos for the citation.
7. Use Consistent Branding
Another critical franchise strategy is maintaining the brand identity on all location pages. For example, use the same font size, style, colors, themes, and layouts on all pages. It is necessary for a better user experience and your business identity in the market. By following the same design, users start recognizing your product and develop long-lasting relations with the users.
8. Complete Google Business Listing
Complete all the steps for Google business listings such as website, phone, name, working hours, and updated product images. This will help the Google bots understand that your business is active and will land the relevant users on your page.
9. Engagement with Customers in the National Language
Engage with customers on national language social media platforms. Share national news and events on the social media handles. Post images of your updated products, sales, and offers and engage with the audience. Respect the customers’ reviews of your product.
10. Strengthen Backlinks with Local Businesses
On top of that, Backlinks are essential to drive an audience to your website and create a positive business image. So, you must be ensure to build quality backlinks. Quality backlinks mean collaboration with other companies in your domain that are relevant to your products.
11. Encourage Customers to Give Reviews
Positive reviews are another technique that sends green signals to Google bots to rank your website. So, it’s essential to encourage your customers to leave Google reviews. You can print receipts with the note “Please leave a review on Google” or email them to write a review. An important tip is that you can motivate the customers by announcing a giveaway to leave a positive review.
12. Use Area Specific KeyWords
Using area-specific keywords along with your product and location is an important strategy to drive a larger audience to your website. Now, Google bots rank the websites that give answers to the questions that users want to know. Some tips for searching relevant keywords are;
- Enlist the questions that customers want to know when searching for your product
- Check out the keywords that your competitors are using
- Consider the phrases that users are using in their reviews regarding your product in a specified location
- Use the tools that are specifically designed for local keyword searching
- Use long tail keywords because they are less competitive
- Add snippets for the long tail keywords and the frequently asked questions about your products.
13. Take Data-Driven Decisions
Track your performance and get insights about your work and improvement. The local SEO insights help you understand what is working and what needs improvement. So, you can make informed decisions at the right time, change the strategy if necessary, and get better results.
Conclusion
Local SEO is beneficial for local businesses and location-based franchises to rank in a target area. However, this ranking is only possible with the proper implementation of Local SEO strategies.
Website with landing pages of various locations, clear URL for location pages, NAP, on-page SEO of location pages, Google listing of your business, consistent branding throughout your online appearance, social media accounts on all platforms and engagement with the users, positive reviews on the Google, area-specific keywords and engaging with the audience in the local language of that area.
So, following all these strategies helps the franchises get an area-based audience and boost sales.
English
English
French
German
Russian
Spanish